The Stanley Parable
by loohoomooshoo
Summary: Warning- brief, intense violence. Castiel and Loki cross-over fanficition. Loki is kidnapped, and in order to save his love Castiel must complete three tasks. Set in an alternative universe, with inspiration from Heavy Rain (video game), Adjustment Bureau, and Christmas Carol. ((Benny is not a vampire in this fiction; Castiel and Loki do not have powers))


The Stanley Parable

Something is missing. Castiel can sense this. Like an itch begging to be scratched by tethered hands, he rolls out of his plush California King sized bed to search for what is out of place. He trudges through his Manhattan apartment, lit solely by the dim, grey morning light coming in through the floor to ceiling windows. He is in search of coffee, and the sweet face that he usually wakes up to in the morning. On the stainless steel countertop sits his favorite mug, the Yankees one his father bought him, even though he knew Cas was a Red Sox fan. Next to the mug sat a note, scribbled onto an unopened mail envelope from a credit card company.

_Went out to get us some ingredients to make breakfast, since you refuse to keep any food in your gorgeous kitchen. You know I've been wanting to cook for you! Tsk, tsk. Be back soon, my love._

_-Loki_

Cas smiles to himself. He really ought to add getting some groceries to his list of chores for his personal assistant, Dean, to do. Shuffling over to the media center, he turns on the tv to check the news and leans against the cold window, sipping his coffee. A weatherman is in the middle of discussing the forecast for the day, December 21st, 2012, when he is cut off. _Breaking News: NYC Grocery Store Explosion. _The screen reads, and an image of the store four blocks away in flames flashes onto the screen before cutting to a pretty female reporter standing in-front of the charred building. Looking out of the window he was leaning on, he can see that the weather isn't why the sky was so dark. It was the smoke. _That… that's the closest store. Loki would have gone there to... Was he? Is he_? Cas thought just before the headline changed _Dozens of Causalities in Grocery Store Explosion_. The mug slips from his hands and falls to the floor, shattering into a million pieces, as bolts to his bedroom to get his iPhone. Fumbling with the buttons, his shakey hands manage to call Loki's cellphone. Which each ring, Cas's anxiety grows. He sinks to his knees and places his head in his hands as the sixth ring comes and goes and the voicemail's mechanical voice fills his ears. _No. Please, God. No._ Hot tears sit at the edges of his eyes, waiting to fall like the pieces of Cas's life with the assurance of Loki's demise. Again, Cas calls Loki, willing him to answer the phone. The phone rings once, twice, three times… click. Breathing. Maybe it was from how fast he sat up when he heard the call pick up, or perhaps he had been holding his breath for too long, but Cas suddenly felt very nauseous."Loki, thank God. I was worried sick… Where are you? Are you alright?" A deep, southern drawl that he did not recognize answered him.

"Hello, Castiel. Loki is fine… for now anyways."

Castiel freezes. He's at a loss for words and overwrought with fear.

"Blowing up that little shop was bit dramatic, I know. But I needed a distraction."

"WHO THE FUCK IS THIS?! YOU SICK FREAK, I'LL KILL YOU!" Cas explodes.

"We-he-he-hell now! You ought to not be so rude, considering that I have the single most important thing in your life in my possession. Now, if I were you, I would chose my next words very, very carefully" said the mysterious man.

"…Please… please, don't hurt him." Cas whispered as his body temperature soared and a nervous sweat broke out all over his body.

There's a heavy sigh. "Ironic… I'm not the one who hurts people, Castiel. That's your job."

"What are you talking about? I've never hurt anyone!"

"I know for a fact that isn't true."

"No! I swear! I have never… I-I-I would never-"

The voice cuts him off. "It doesn't matter now, Castiel. You and I are going to play a game."

"A….game?" Castiel curls his hands into fists, his fear turning to white-hot rage.

"Yes, a game. If you win, you may have your man back. If I win, you will both die. Calling the police is an automatic forfeit", said the voice, sickeningly over annunciating every vowel with his thick southern accent.

"YOU DID ALL THIS FOR SOME SICK GAME?" Cas yells.

"I will call back in one hour with instructions for you're the first round. Be in your car, this will be a race against time." The man lets out a hoarse chuckle. "Oh, this is gonna' be fun."

With that, the call disconnects. Cas stares at the phone in disbelief. This was obviously personal. The man had all but said so. But what he had done to anyone to make them go to this extreme he did not know. All he knew was that Loki was in danger. _ I'll save him. I have to._

Castiel managed to scrape himself off the floor in just enough time to put on clothes and get into his car before his iPhone rings. A photo of Loki pops up on the screen. Seeing his smiling face makes Cas's heart sink. _Will I ever see him again? …DAMNIT CAS, don't think like that. I need to stay strong. For him. _Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, he answers the call.

"Your first task is to drive down the wrong side of the Interstate 80 for 10 minutes. You will be rewarded if you survive." The man hangs up. Cas puts his forehead against the steering wheel. _I'd do anything to save Loki, but I can't rescue him if I'm crushed to death in a crazy car accident. _He looks at the phone. The image is still displayed. _If I can't contact the police, I have to do this. There's no other way. I have to go down the rabbit hole. _Sitting up, he starts the ignition and heads toward I-80.

He pulled over right in front of where the ramp let drivers off of the stomach was in knots and his knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. _I don't know if I can do this. _That's when the phone lit up. A text, from Loki's phone, read: "What are you waiting for?" _How is he watching me? Is he close by? Or was it just a lucky guess? Either way, it's now or never. And I won't just let this happen. I am going to do everything in my power. This is the only person I've ever loved. I have to. I do._ His whole body was shaking as he put the car in gear and slowly got back onto the road and drove onto the ramp. Going up the exit ramp there were three "wrong way"signs, but no other cars to contend with. At the top of the ramp, Castiel sped up. _Oh God,_ he thought as he smashed his foot against the pedal, and the car roared forward into oncoming traffic. The cars in front of him were laying on their horns as he approached them. He swallowed hard and bit his lip, drawing blood, as he drove past them in an open lane. _Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!_ More cars ahead of him started honking and swerving to get out of his way. He was dodging cars left and right now. _2 minutes_. Castiel narrowly avoided a collision with a blue Ford truck that had quickly crossed four lanes and sped up to try to hit him from the side and knock him off of the road. The truck missed by inches and went speeding into a ditch, making an awful crunching sound as the front of it, which folded up as easily as if it were paper, smashed against the ground. He'd been so focused on it, he did not see the semi heading straight for him. Cas swerved but still scraped the sides of it, causing the car to swivel and shake so violently he was sure he would crash. Somehow, he stayed in control and continued onwards. _5_ _minutes._ The car was going 100 miles an hour when traffic started to get heavier. _Left! Right! Right! RIGHT! Left! Right! _He dodged inbetween the multitude of cars, nudging and bumping a few into other cars. _Right, left, left, right, left, left, left, right, right, right, right, left. _More and more cars were getting into accidents with each other trying to avoid him. All around him was a sickening amount of noise- the screech of breaks, the high pitched wail of the horns, the crunch of the metal. _7 minutes. _He had nearly made it to the end, he just had to stay focused. Cas pulled into the emergency lane and raced down it, bumping up against the rail the entire way, which caused his teeth to crash together rather unpleasantly and his head to hit the roof of the car repeatedly. He could see a car was parked in the lane up ahead, so he pulled back into the highway. _8 minutes._ At this point most of the cars had stilled, making it harder to move through as quickly. Castiel bumped into the side of a white Honda, which had him skidding into a moving truck, and overcorrecting into the back of tiny red car. He had just gotten the car back under control when the police car smashed into the passenger's side of his car. The car spun out of control and flipped over, skidding forward until coming to a halt by hitting a parked car. A second police car hit him, this time from his side, which crushed the car against the median. _10 minutes, _he thought, just before the black curtain of unconsciousness fell in front of his eyes.

_Ring, ring, ring. Ring, ring, ring_. The sound echoed in Castiel's ears. _Where am I?_ He tried to shift, but a sharp pain ran up his left arm. _Oh shit, what is that?_ Cas was slowly opening his eyes. _Ring, ring, ring._ The sound of the phone ringing and the stinging pain pulled him back into reality. He was pinned in the upside down, totaled vehicle. His left hand was trapped in between the smashed door of his car and the front of the police car that had smashed into him. The blood was minimal, but it hurt worse than anything he had ever felt. _Ring, Ring, Ring. _Cas reached into his pocket with his right hand and pulled out the phone. There was a shuffling sound on the other end.

"Castiel?!" Loki called out.

"Loki..." Cas croaked. "I'm… I am coming to get you."

"Do- " he heard a sharp crack.

"LOKI?" Cas yelled.

"Nicely done, Castiel. You earned the privilege of knowing your boyfriend is still alive." the voice drawled. "You'll hear more after you finish the next task."

"…Which is?" he said as he tugged at his seat belt, trying to pry it out and free himself.

"In the glove compartment is a knife."

With a thud, Cas fell out of his seat. He screamed as the metal that had pierced his left hand cut him further with the movement

"Sounds like you're caught. Hehe, well this just works out perfectly then. Your next task is to cut off a limb with that knife. You have 2 hours. If you survive, I'll tell you where we are." _Click._

Delicately turning his body, Cas tried to stretch to reach the glove compartment. He screamed again as metal cut him again. _Come on Cas, you can do this._ He stretched his right arm out again. His left arm was on fire. _Come on. Almost there…_ Flexing his fingers as far as he could, he was still short of reaching the glove box. Castiel grabbed onto the dashboard and heaved himself closer. His left hand fell free as the metal cut it in half. Cas ripped open the glove box and pulled out a large, sharp cooking knife. _It's from my kitchen_, he thought, as he sliced into his left hand. "ARGH!" Cas cried out as the knife cut effortlessly through his skin. The feeling was unbearable. He cut again, and screamed again, this time for God. His breathing was labored and he felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness. With one last cut, he cut through the bone of his hand. The pain began to dull as the corners of his vision faded to black. He could fight it no more, and Castiel passed out.

"Sir! Are you in need of medical assistance? Hello?!" a soft, female voice shouted at him. Cas regained his consciousness much faster this time. He sat up, and looked at his now unattached, mangeled hand. "SIR?!" She shouted again.

He picked up the bloody knife and crawled in the direction of her voice. "Shhh." He said to her.

Cas pushed himself out of the car and stood infront of the EMT.

"Wha-" She stills and her eyes get wide when she sees the knife.

"Stitch me up as fast as you can, right here. Or I'll have to hurt you." He said, trying to sound more menacing in the hopes that she wouldn't announce his location to the police standing a few feet away.

Her wide eyes grew even bigger, and she agrees, and stitches him up in matter of seconds. She runs off after she is finished, just as the phone rings again.

Castiel answers on the first ring.

"Cas?" Loki whispers.

"Yeah, babe?" Cas answers. He can see police officers heading towards him with the shaken up EMT in tow. They don't see him yet, he could still run.

"I love you." The call disconnects.

Running as fast as he can, Castiel is dashing through the wooded area that runs along side of the highway. Barreling through the branches and bushes in his way, he feels so weak but he knows he cannot stop. He loses his footing going down a steep hill and rolls down the rest of the way. He lies there for a moment before realizing he cannot rest. Cas brushes himself off with his remaining hand and trudges on through the forest. _Just need to keep the cops away_, he thinks, as the phone rings again.

"Castiel. You must complete one more task before I tell you where we are" said the voice.

"YOU TOLD ME YOU WOULD DO THAT AFTER I CUT OFF MY HAND" he seethed.

"Soon." The man laughed. "Soon, Cas. For now, you're going to walk a little further until you're insight of a tattoo parlor. I will call you again once you've arrived" _Click._

After an hour of being lost in the forest, Castiel is finally across the street from a cheap, dirty looking tattoo parlor. The street the parlor is on is devoid of any other signs of life, as if the shop had been plucked from a seedy area of the city and placed out squarely into this little patch of nowhere. There are no other buildings, no cars, and no people around. The phone rings again. What he was doing here, he could not have guessed.

"Go in and ask to be tattooed, wherever you'd like, with Mark 8:36." The call ends.

_A tattoo? I'd driven down the wrong side of traffic and cut off my hand, but now my boyfriend's life depends on me getting a tattoo? What the hell?! _Cas walks into the tattoo parlor, and sits down in front a burly man with a long, blonde beard, the only other soul in the building. He tells the man what to tattoo, and pulls up the sleeve of his trench to reveal the remnant of his left arm. "Right above here", he says as he points to his elbow. The artist gets straight to work, not even needing to get the bible for the quote. Cas honestly does not know what the verse is.

As the man tattoos him, Cas recognizes the phrase. He'd heard it not that long ago….

_Castiel lumbers out of his silver Audi S8, a few of his tired bones cracking as he does so. He slams the door and shoves the keys toward the young valet standing on the sidewalk. Huffing towards the door of the restaurant, he nearly runs into a man that had been approaching him that he had not noticed. A short, little old man, who was quite unclean looking, pulls on the sleeve of his trench coat. "Please, sir. Can you spare some change? Please? I'm so hungry, sir" he begs. Ripping away his arm and making a throaty sound of disgust, he continues toward the door. "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" shouts the beggar. Castiel does not pause, and pushes through the doors of Nello, where Loki had been waiting for him for nearly an hour. Sitting down across the table from Loki, the man's words sink in. His words… that was a bible verse if he remembered correctly. Cas had come from nothing, a life on the road with his single-father, John, and his sister, Anna. He had worked his ass off, sacrificing tv, nights out, weekends, and even holidays. Look at me now, he thought. One of the richest men in the country, four gorgeous homes, a stable full of racing horses in Florida, and a deliriously handsome man to share it all with. It was everything he had ever dreamed of and then some. He had earned it, so why should he give any of it to some dirty man who had probably drank away his savings? Cas shook his head, and with it, the man's words, away and focused entirely on Loki. When they left the restaurant, the man was no longer there. Probably off to see who else he can swindle money from, he thought as he opened the door for Loki and walked around to the driver's side. As he pulled out from his parking spot, he could have sworn he saw the man in his rear-view mirror, smiling and waving at him as they drove home._

Suddenly it all clicks. Over the past decade, Cas had become a completely different man. He'd hoarded his money and not given any charity a dime. He had avoided Christmas' with this father solely because he did not want to have to talk about how much they missed Anna. He had been perfectly content with spending his life alone with all of his money until he met Loki. Loki, who was generous, kind-hearted, and thoughtful. What he saw in Castiel, he'd never understand. Sure, he had a ton of money and he wasn't completely ugly, but Loki never cared about money or looks. He loved Cas for who he was… and he was better around Loki. When Castiel was younger, he stood up for kids who were being bullied, gave his lunch to students who didn't have one, and he wanted to change the world one day. With all of his money and influence, all Cas had ever managed to do was accumulate more stuff. He had not succeeded in life, he had failed it miserably! Truly, he had sold his soul for the things that he owned.

The tattoo is finished. He had always heard people complain about how much getting tattoos hurt, but in comparison to cutting off your own hand, it had felt virtually painless. The phone rings. Castiel lifts the phone up his ear, and answers the call with an out of body calmness gives the stranger a polite "Hello."

"…That's more like it, Castiel. Come on out, we're here." Click.

Cas was expecting to walk back outside and see a car waiting for him. But when he pushed open the doors to the tattoo shop, he was staring straight at a huge abandoned warehouse. Everything was dark, as it was night-time, and he was back in the city. He turned around and there was no tattoo shop, just large lot covered in gravel and construction equipment. Cas faced the factory again. There was a light on in a room on the top floor. He felt confused, but still calm, as if the needle had been full of Ativan instead of ink. Castiel opened the door to the factory, and was immediately standing in a large, white, empty room. He went over to the windows. He was on the top floor of the warehouse, but he didn't walk up here. At least he did not remember walking up here. A door opens at the far side of the room, and a short, muscular man walks into the room. The man approaches Cas slowly, swinging his arms wide and then clapping them together as he did so. There is nothing that appears to be out of the ordinary about this man.

"Hello, Castiel. I am Benny" he stopped a few feet away from him.

"Benny… Not a very good name for a villain" Castiel replied softly, looking at the floor.

"Is that what you think I am? Some sort of crazed mad-man? You are vastly underestimating me, Cas," he chuckles. "I am far more powerful you should dare to test."

Castiel looks Benny straight in the eyes now, mustering up all of his courage. "Who are you?"

Benny sighs. "I've already told you, I'm Benny… I am an angel."

_That's it. I've died. I died or I lost my mind._ Castiel thinks to himself.

"You've done neither, Cas. You are very much sane and alive." Benny said, as he walked closer to Castiel. "We've brought you here for a reason."

Cas drew a deep breath to speak, but Benny continued on.

"You have made great waste of the gifts given to you, Castiel. Heaven bestowed on you diligence, intelligence, and persistence. With these, you have compiled nothing but greed. We sent you a guide, gave you opportunities to change, and you didn't take them… So we're taking them back."

The door at the far end of the room opened again. This time, it was Loki who came through the door. Dressed all in white, he was every bit the angelic vision Cas was so worried he'd never see.

"He has learned his lesson, Benny. Castiel risked his own life to save the life of another, and he has seen the error of his self actions."

Cas stood in wide-eyed horror as he realized what was going on. There was no kidnapping. This was all just a game. A game to test him. A game he was not going to win.

"You… you were a part of this Loki?" He whispered.

Loki grabbed Cas' arms in that instant, and embraced him. "I love you, Castiel. That has not changed." Cas felt relief wash over him. "However, I do not think I will be allowed to guide you in the same way anymore. Heaven desires a new path be drawn for you. I do not know if I will be a part of it or not."

Cas pulled away from the embrace. "No… You can't just… leave me…"

"It won't be like that, Castiel" Benny answered. Loki had vanished.

"NO! WHERE IS HE?! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Cas cried out.

"Be thankful you're getting another go at this and pipe down. It's time, now." Benny snapped.

_Time for what?_ Instantly, he had his answer. The room faded away, and he was falling.

Castiel jolts upright in his bed. He's shaking, covered in cold sweat. He looks around… he is in his apartment. Everything seems to be the same as it always was. Cas lays back down and picks up his phone off of the nightstand. _December 21__st__, 2012? It's… the same day? How is that possible? _He pulls his arms out from underneath the covers. Sure enough, his left hand is still there. _Was it all just a crazy dream?_ Cas rubs his eyes… and there it is again. That feeling that something is missing. He bolts from his bedroom to the kitchen. But there is no mug or note sitting on the counter for him. Relief washes over him, until he realizes he still doesn't know where Loki is. Castiel searches in every room, but his love is nowhere to be seen. _Where is he?_ Deciding to put on clothes and go out in search of Loki, it is in the closet reality hits him like an anvil in a cartoon. None of Loki's clothes are in the closet. He runs to the bathroom. Nothing of Loki's is in there either. Back in the bedroom, the photos he had of the two of them on his bookshelf only show his image, and the gold & platinum watch Loki always kept on the corner of one of the frames was also gone. _No, no. This can't be. _Castiel grabs his iPhone. There is no contact in his phone under that name. He sinks to the ground, and buries his head in his hands. _I've lost him again. This time, for good._ He rubs his hands over his face… but something foreign on his left hand brushes against his cheek. On his left hand is a large, protruding scar runs down his palm… right where his hand had split in half. Cas runs his fingers over it. It looks and feels old, as if he'd had it for years. A flash of white momentarily obscures his vision, and in that instant he remembers getting the scar in at the beach, with his father and sister. He had cut his hand open on a sharp rock while swimming in the ocean. _I remember how scared dad was, I lost a lot of blood. Anna held my other hand the whole time, to keep me calm. _Cas wondered if… he had a vague memory of getting a tattoo… he pulled up the sleeve on his left arm, where a tattoo in white ink read "Lamentations 3:22-23". He got up and pulled an old bible off of the bookshelf. The passage read, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." _I always liked this quote. It reminds me to have a positive outlook on life, _he thought. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. _Who could that be? _Cas ran to answer the door. Standing in the doorway, armed with a bag of bagels from the grocery store down the street, was his sister, Anna.

"YOU'RE STILL IN YOUR PAJAMAS?!" She screeched when she saw him.

Cas said nothing, but reached into the bag and took out a bagel.

"We're going to be late for the Habitat build! Get your clothes on!" she yelled, snatching the bagel from his hands.

Castiel smiled, and went to go get ready for the build. He stopped to admire the photos of his family that sat on his bookshelf, before throwing on jeans, a t-shirt, and work boots. Cas dragged his sister out the door and they ate their bagels on the elevator ride down. They hopped into his blue Ford truck and drove to the site. Cas had never been here before, but for some reason the old warehouse felt familiar to him. He shrugged off the feeling and walked over to where everyone else had already gathered, which was around the project manager. Cas held his scared hand just over his eyes to get a good look at the man. He was very tall and thin, and had angular facial features. The man had porcelain skin, long black hair, and blue eyes. He introduced himself to the crew as Loki.


End file.
